Every story starts with an Inciting Incident catapulting the hero and heroine into a journey. They’re either scrambling to get their lives back to normal or hoping to settle into their new life after some amazing “I never knew this could happen to me” experience.
Each scene you write is either an Action or re-Action scene. Your characters are doing something or responding to what happened. But the challenge is to write more than just he-said-she-said or he-did-she-did scenes. You want to layer in emotional depth – and one way to do that is to know your character’s Noble Cause.
What: The Noble Cause answers the question why? It’s the motivation that moves your character from chapter 1 to “The End.” Think of your protagonist saying something like this: BeCAUSE of my Noble Cause, I will Quest after something. (Thanks to our fearless leader, Susan May Warren, for that great way to remember what the Noble Cause is.)
Understanding a hero’s or heroine’s Noble Cause enables you to:
- Create a multilayered character
- Build stakes and tension
- Maintain a strong Act 2
To help determine your protagonist’s Noble Cause, answer this question for them: Because of _____, my Noble Cause is to _____ by doing _____.
- Know the defining moments in your character’s life.
- Know what two values are expressed in the Noble Cause.
Examples: Here’s how I would answer the Noble Cause question for the heroine of my upcoming novel, Catch a Falling Star:
Because of how childhood asthma limited my life, my Noble Cause is to help other children live as normally as possible by being a family physician specializing in asthma and allergies. (Two values: family/children and freedom)
How could we fill in the Noble Cause question for Sandra Bullock’s character, Lucy, in the movie While You Were Sleeping?
Because of how I was left all alone after losing both of my parents by the time I was in my early twenties, my Noble Cause is to recreate a family by falling in love with the perfect man and getting married. (Two values: family and true love)
Consider your work-in-progress: What is your protagonist’s Noble Cause?
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MBT’s Skills Coach, Beth K. Vogt provides her readers with a happily ever after woven through with humor, reality, and God’s lavish grace. Her inspirational contemporary romance novel, Wish You Were Here, debuted May 2012 (Howard Books.) Her second novel, Catch a Falling Star, releases May 2013. Beth is an established magazine writer and former editor of Connections, the leadership magazine for MOPS International. Visit with Beth at her website bethvogt.com.